Proceedings 2014/025

Proceedings of the Regional Peer Review on the West Coast Vancouver Island Chinook Salmon Escapement Estimation and Stock Aggregation Procedures; June 18-20, 2013

Chairperson: Marilyn Hargreaves
Editors: Stephanie King and Diana Dobson

Summary

These Proceedings summarize the discussions and key conclusions from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Advisory meeting conducted on June 18th to 20th, 2013, at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo, B.C. The workshop objectives were

1. to evaluate the escapement estimation methodology used to evaluate the abundance of West Coast Vancouver Island (WCVI) Chinook index stocks relative to escapement targets; and,
2. to recommend methods for estimating an annual aggregate escapement or appropriate surrogate for the entire WCVI Chinook management unit. Participants included biologists, scientists and academics with relevant experience from DFO and other interested agencies.

A working paper on the methodology used to estimate escapement of WCVI index stocks was reviewed as part of objective 1. The summary of the working paper, the reviews and the main points for the review discussions are summarized in these Proceedings. Participants and reviewers recommended that more work be conducted, including further model development, sensitively analysis and calibration with empirical data. The paper was not accepted in its current form.

To meet objective 2, the methods for estimating the aggregate abundance of WCVI Chinook were evaluated in small group sessions. The group process, report-outs and discussions are summarized in these proceedings. Participants found that the current index method is appropriate for WCVI Chinook, but that improvements could be made by incorporating elements from the other methods evaluated (i.e., GRTS, habitat-based method and CWT/GSI/Scale method).

Recommendations for improvements to the escapement estimation of WCVI Chinook are described here and also summarized in a Science Advisory Report that resulted from the meeting. In addition, these Proceedings include the background materials prepared for the workshop and written contributions by presenters.

Complete document (PDF, 965 KB)

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